A site devoted to a mixed bag of topics, with an emphasis on professional and amateur sports in Regina, Saskatchewan. We also preview the weekly lineup of guests for the Locker Talk on Access 7 tv sports talk show.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Here's the lineup for this week's show, airing tonight at 9 p.m. and Thursday at 6 p.m. on Access channel 7. My coaching duties kept me out of the studio again this week. I'll let you decide whether that's a good thing or not!

Who says there hasn't been any exciting football at Mosaic Stadium this season?

Those nay-sayers obviously weren't in the stands for last night's RMF pee wee U of R Coaches Bowl showdown between the Vikings and our Unicorns. A back-and-forth battle featured numerous lead changes, and wasn't settled until the very last play.

With just nine seconds left on the clock, the Unicorns scrimmaged from our own 40 yard line, facing a 22-19 deficit. Our strong-armed pivot Jayden Lorenz dropped back and launched a bomb in the direction of fleet-footed receiver Jace Kobylansky. JK #21 hauled in the pass, evaded a couple of would-be tacklers and hauled butt to the end zone as time expired! Make the final Unicorns 25, Vikings 22!

How's that for a thriller? Or, as the players quickly dubbed it, the "Miracle at Mosaic". Our team was proud to dedicate the game to our offensive coordinator John Makie, who is in the General Hospital recovering from a mild stroke. That left the offensive play-calling in the trembling hands of yours truly, the head coach. Amazingly, we still managed to move the ball. That one was for you, coach Makie!

Thus ends our RMF season. Good luck to the teams still in the hunt for city championships this week in the pee wee and bantam divisions.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Slowly easing back into the swing of things after a great long weekend with the offspring:

Can we just call a spade a spade and admit the Saskatchewan Roughriders are a bad football team right now?

Yesterday's 17-1 loss to Edmonton was just about as sad a display of offensive football as I've seen. Give the defense some respect for keeping the game within reach, I guess.

Does this mean Ryan Dinwiddie isn't the answer?

On the O-line. I think Mssrs. Gauthier and Goodspeed have passed their best before date. They simply don't move quickly enough to handle the DE's of today.

Speaking of DE's - the Riders are still searching for an impact player at that position.

So now what? Is it time to start auditioning young replacements at key positions? Yep.

Is it time to revisit the goofy organizational structure? Yep.

Trade Andy Fantuz? Nope.

The RMF Unicorns concluded the regular season on the weekend with a heart-breaking 28-22 loss to the Patriots. We were stuffed twice inside the opponent's five yard line on the last two plays of the game. Ouch.

Still, considering last year's team went 0-9, we'll take a 4-4 record - no complaints!

We may not have the deepest team (we're down to 25 players), or the biggest or fastest, but these kids NEVER quit! Suffice to say I'm proud of them.

We wrap up the season with a playoff bowl game next Monday night at Mosaic Stadium. Bring on those Vikings!

The Green Bay Packers are 5-0, and there doesn't appear to be anything resembling a Super Bowl hangover happening in the land of the cheeseheads.

The Detroit Lions are also 5-0. Are the NFL's ultimate doormats for real this year? Apparently so!

Their rise hasn't been quite as dramatic as the NFL's Lions (mostly because they were never as bad as the Lions), but Regina Pats fans have to be feeling pretty good about things these days.

The Pats boast a top-notch goalie and a rock-solid blueline corps. Add on a tremendous work ethic and timely goal scoring from a young group of forwards, and the future is looking bright.

Hell, if they keep rolling, the future may be now! Well, let's hold off for a while before getting that excited.

Thursday, October 06, 2011

Don't forget to catch the rebroadcast of Regina's favourite (ie: only) hour long local sports program tonight at 6 p.m. on Access channel 7. Once again this week I was not available for the taping, so that's probably all the reason you need to tune in!